390 euphorbiacejE. (spurge family.) 



* Fruit smooth or merely pubescent. 



1. A., Virgillica, L. Leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, obtusely and sparsely ser- 

 rate, long-petioled ; sterile spike rather few-flowered, mostly shorter than the deeply 

 palmately-cleft fruiting bracts. —Fields and open places ; common. July- Sept. 

 A homely weed, l°-2° high, smoothish or rather hairy, often turning pur- 

 plish in autumn. Fertile flowers 1-3 in each axil, along with the small and 

 short-peduncled sterile spike : bracts very large and leaf-like, unequally cut into 

 5-9 lanceolate lobes. 



2. A. gnicilCiSS. Leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or linear, obscurely 

 serrate, short-petioled, mostly obtuse ; sterile spike long and slender, much longer than 

 the cut-toothed brad. — Sandy dry soil, Rhode Island to Illinois, and common 

 southward. — A somewhat downy plant, 6' - 12' high ; the heart-ovate fruiting 

 bract sharply cut-toothed, or barely cleft at the sides ; the sterile spike frequently 

 I' long and half the length of the leaves. — Perhaps runs into the last. — Var. 

 monococca, Engelm., is a narrow and nearly entire-leaved form, with only one 

 cell to the fruit, and the seed larger. Western Illinois. 



* * Fruit echinate with soft bristly green projections. 



3. A. Caroliliiana, Walt. Leaves thin, ovate-cordate, sharply and closely 

 serrate-toothed, abruptly acuminate, long-petioled ; sterile spikes short ; the fer- 

 tile ones mostly terminal and elongated, its bracts deeply cut into many linear 

 lobes. (A ostrytefolia, Iiiddell. ) — New Jersey (Princeton, Torrey), Ohio, and 

 southward. 



4. TRAOIA, Plunder. Tragi a. 



Flowers monoecious, in racemes, apetalous. Sler. Fl. Calyx 3-parted. Sta- 

 mens 2 or3: filaments short, distinct. Fert. Fl. Calyx 5-8- (mostly 6-) 

 parted, persistent. Style 3-cleft : stigmas 3, simple. Pod 3-cclled, 3-lobed, 

 bristly, separating into three 2-valved 1 -seeded carpels. — Erect or climbing 

 plants (perennial herbs in U. S.), pubescent or hispid, with mostly alternate 

 leaves ; the small-flowered racemes terminal or opposite the leaves (rarely axil- 

 lary) ; the sterile flowers above, the few fertile at the base, all with small bracts. 

 (Named for the early herbalist Tragus.) 



1. T. UrCJlS, L Erect, paniculate-branched, softly hairy -pubescent (1° 

 high) ; leaves varying from obovate-oblong to lance-linear, acute at the base, ob- 

 tusely or sinuately few-toothed or lobed, sometimes entire, short-petioled or sessile. 

 — Dry ground, Virginia and southward. May -Aug. (A bad name for the 

 species ; for the hairs arc not at all stinging nor sharp. Walter's name, T. in- 

 nocua, should supersede it.) 



2. T. lirticifolia, Michx. Erect or reclining, hirsute; leaves ovate-lanceo- 

 'ate or triangular-lanceolate, or the lower ovate, all somewhat cordate or truncate at 

 the base, coarsely cut-toothed, short-petioled. — Virginia {Pursh), and common 

 southward. 



3. T. msicrocstrpa, Willd. Twining, somewhat hirsute; leaves deeply 

 cordate, ovate, sharply serrate (3' long), all but the uppermost long-petioled (pod 

 £' broad). (T. cordata, Michx.)— Kentucky (Michaux), and southward. 



